Sandro the destructive to Spurs?

Sandro. The missing piece of the jigsaw. Although if I'm completely honest, I'm basing that on what I think is the missing piece rather than the type of player Sandro actually is. I can't really offer anything in the way of personal 'I swear on my life' insight into what type of player the young Brazilian is. Sure, I can quote you from a tabloid transfer article or perhaps what a regular on the Glory Glory forum thinks, but I've never actually seen the bloke play. Youtube/online streaming video footage doesn't count, mainly because it has a habit of mis-interpretation.

I remember salivating at ridiculous 30 yard goals from impossible angles (Rebrov) and tricky instinctive box work (Postiga) only to be left crying despondently with regret later. My only 'experience' of Sandro is from signing him for Spurs side in my current FM2010 save game and using him as back-up for Wilson Palacios - sometimes even partnering him in the middle for a difficult away game. Based on a computer game, Sandro is strong and although defensive, has plenty of attacking qualities and an eye for scoring from distance (although this may be thanks to an in-game mis-representaiton/bug where far too many goals are scored from long range).

So, who is Sandro exactly? Can he hit the ground running if he turns out in Lilywhite come January, or will he require a season or so of 'bedding in' to settle into the tempo of the EPL? Or perhaps he is confident and adaptable and wont struggle as long as he joins a side that's in form. If we are performing, it will be far easier for him to get to grips with midfield tussles.

All I have to go on is a gut feeling at the moment. Which is risky. So I can only think our scouts have seen enough of this lad to warrant him a worthy acquisition. Rather than a superfluous (there's that word again) one. The last time we signed a DM, it was Wilson. And although Wilson appears to have suffered a little with form in recent months - there's no doubt he will recapture the type of discipline he possessed at the back end of last season. So bringing in a young understudy has to be the answer. Jamie O'Hara obviously is not. Bostock is possibly a couple of seasons away from breaking into the first team (and he's a little more offensive). Jenas is Jenas, bless his little cotton socks.

Sandro, still the missing piece of the jigsaw? What does he do exactly? Based on what others say:

He's comfortable on the ball
He works hard
Has box to box qualities
Aggressive in the tackle
Has leadership qualities
Not overly creative (could improve)
Decent in a holding role

Doesn't sound shabby.  There's a Willie Gannon article on Sandro that includes such statements as:

'dynamic midfielder'
'holding midfielder - his primary role for Inter where he has been destructive'
'initiates his team’s many attacks with his penetrating runs through midfield'
'simplistic style /rarely gives the ball away'

Again, doesn't sound too shabby at all. But once more, these are opinions which you may or may not trust as they are words of others rather than something you've witnessed with your own eyes. But leaps of faith is what we take with imported players. And Sandro, Brazilian U20 captain (I think), does appear to have some substance to the hype.

As far as the centre of the park is concerned, he appears to offer more dimensions to his play than our other current options. The key quality being leadership. I might look him up on Youtube. After being burnt by the Rebrov and Postiga collections the last time I dared venture was to see clips of a certain Bulgarian. So perhaps the internet doesn't always lie.

I do like his attitude in print. To quote the man: "I don't want to speak too much about this but I am ready to move to Europe. I am convinced my style will suit a team that favours an attacking approach."

He seems confident of his abilities. And the Internacional fans also seem to like him where it matters most, on the pitch and on the terraces:

"Sandro scores the goals, Sandro scores the goals, Sandro scores the goals, so we will give him a cow, and he will milk it" 

We might need to re-work that for the Park Lane. Don't ask me about the cow. I haven't got a clue.

So for now, we wait. The press are making various assumptions about price (ranging from £6M to the original/traditional £16M figure). There's the issue rights/ownership, which if you remember ruined our chances of signing Diego several years ago. His club claim he's not leaving, then we read about how the deal is progressing. Sit back, and hold onto your hats.

You pulling my Johnson?

I'm conflicted. When there are moments of nothingness between Spurs games I'd prefer not to write up something contrived just for the sake of it and rant on about what the tabloids consider to be news worthy adding unwarranted weight to something that is nothing more than a dirty feather.

If I go ahead and do so, I feel guilty for jumping onto the bandwagon. Other bloggers, might not have a crisis of the soul, and not think twice about commenting and so it snowballs and then everyone is discussing it, making it almost tangible. But then like a cancer - it spreads, relentless and unforgiving. Even though most know there is nothing there. A phantom. Its no cancer. Its not even a common cold. Its nothing more than hot air. But acknowledging its existence is easier than simply ignoring it. It's an instinctive reaction, and one that annoys me.

 

Johnson, 2 years ago v Sunderland

And here I am. About to contradict myself and do the exact thing I keep promising not to. Irony only has to pull her skirt slowly upwards ever so slightly to reveal a little bit more of that delicious thigh and I'm once more seduced.

I've not been paying attention and I can't claim to know what order the following skipped into the public domain in, but in the past week we've had:

- Jamie O'Hara may or may not stay at Pompey (direct Harry quote)
- Sandro has been re-linked (looks like the same story from the last transfer window)
- Spurs lack midfield depth ('We've only got Wilson, JJ and Huddlestone' confirms Harry)

And using the tabloid formula of conclusion, this equates to us being in the market for a new addition. So naturally, the next Spurs transfer story has to be related to a centre midfielder. No shock there.

But I guess I shouldn't frown too much about selling out and talking about it. The damage has already been done. It's multiplying itself across News Now as we speak like demented Gremlins birthed from a wet sorry mogwai.

Michael Johnson is apparently a £6M target for Tottenham which will aid us in our quest for central midfield depth. You remember Michael Johnson, right? He's this weeks nomination for a move to White Hart Lane (I'm surprised nobody has suggested Davids yet).

Johnson has returned from a long period on the sidelines. Very long period. Apparently suffering from an 'abdominal injury' which he comforted by growing fat. You'll note most photos being used in the sports related articles are of a baby-faced Johnson from around two seasons ago. Which is nice of them.

Two years on the sidelines and this could be you

It’s been so long since I last saw Johnson play that I can't even remember what type of player he is. I'm going to go with 'midfielder with a bit of eveything'. If a City fan is reading this, please go ahead and correct me.

I do remember he was useful but other than being cited as the next big thing I don't recall much more. Other than people telling me he was useful. What I do know is that at Man City there are several players ahead of him fighting for first team action. And this is a fact that isn't lost on the journos either because it allows them to include a hook in their story. A possibility for interest because the lad is 'arguably' available based on him requiring games to regain fitness and will struggle to get into the team at Eastlands. If he was more than decent two years ago and if he gets fit and has no more 'abdominal' problems most wouldn't say not to him signing. For £2M - £3M. But abdominal problems are a curious type. So knock off another £1M and then Harry might take a geniune look.

Another fact is that he's only played one minute of Prem football since his 'return'. That must have been some minute for us to be pencilling in a £6M move. I know what. Forget the discounted suggestion above, and let's wait until he completes two minutes and bid £12M and then round it off to £15M to guarantee nobody gazumps us.

Regardless of the reason(s) for his time away (I don't need to paint a picture) if the lad has talent it might re-emerge. It might not. One thing is for certain, we won't be paying £6M to find out.

And as for the regurgitated Sandro transfer stories, according to press reports we are back in for him and should be signing him cometh the Jan window. And the source? Other press reports. Yes. We have a press report that repeats information from another press report that is then copied for another press report. Let's get it done before Barca or Real swoop in to steal him away from our Brazilian partners, Internacional.

I'll stop there before I start posting pictures of a monged out Crouch and Woodgate looking like extras from a zombie movie with the title 'caption competition' or a damning editorial about the misbehaving dos Santos out with his family. The heathen.

And there we go. I just couldn't ignore the headlines and just had to waste my time and yours with contrived commentary that lacked insight. I'm once more part of the system. A fully fledged disciple of disdain. Please accept my unequivocal apology for my moment of weakness and rejoice with me that we are now closer to the weekend and the visit of Stoke.

Transfer Window lock-down - a review

I'm not sure what I enjoyed most about transfer deadline day. Sky Sports News ridiculous coverage which greeted every piece of non-event news item with delirium, including Andy Burton checking his vibrating mobile phone for inside information 'live on air' whilst the other presenters did their very best not to spontaneously combust.

Or the various Tottenham message board 'ITK's who failed miserably to guess the days transfers, desperately attempted to predict what would unfold in the final hours left till the window closed.

Ironically, not a lot was actually happening in the real world. The last day of the transfer window always feels like an anti-climax if nothing overwhelmingly spectacular doesn't occur. Even though we've had the entirety of the summer months to sign a player, we all assume that a last minute deal is likely, when in fact the odds are stacked against it.

We knew Niko Kranjčar would happen and it did. Quite possibly the deal of this window and any window, as Levy somehow managed to get Portsmouth to fork out £1.5M + the Croatian midfielder for the signature of Kevin Prince Boateng. Amazing.

He'll cover Modric over on the left hand side and might stay there with Moddle playing centre when he returns. Gives us options. Gives us a little more depth. Still no true left-winger at the Lane, but we don't appear to need one. Niko may have gone stale at Pompey and has not got anywhere near the type of quality he can produce and produce consistently, but you just know Harry will get the best out of him. And much like we've seen many times before, a move can rejuvenate a player. It's a good solid signing, one without the overexuberant price tag and hype that we usually make the mistake of making.

Elsewhere, strong rumours linking Bentley with a move to City and Petrov with a move to Spurs. This morphed between transfers to loan deals as the day progressed, suggesting we would swap wingers until seasons end. Neither deal happened. Harry saying that David leaving wasn't going to happen. Petrov's agent saying that the player wanted to sign for Spurs and was in London but Mark Hughes pulled the plug.

As the clocked ticked and we got closer to 5pm, Sky Sports News presenters began to melt on screen like the scene from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

"Don't look at it. Shut your eyes. Don't look at it, no matter what happens!"

And yet we couldn't look away. And in reply we were entertained as we listened to stories about how Alan Hutton and Anton Ferdinand were going to swap teams in a loan deal that would have left us with one first team right-back (having had 103 at the start of the season). Had we signed Ferdinand I would have spent the rest of the year doing porridge. He's absolute pony and I would have happily broken into Levy's home and explained this to him as he awoke in bed next to Mrs Levy.

David James to Spurs was tabloid fantasy. We did however inquire about Matthew Upson but it 'never really got close'. And that was it. The only missing piece from the jigsaw was a central midfielder. One that could either:

- Cover Wilson Palacios
- Compliment Wilson Palacios
- Play a little too

Not asking for much then.

It's been the one constant through-out the summer, our search for another robust enforcer. If Wilson picked up a Modricesque injury, who would slot into his position to aid us in his absence? Should have known nothing would happen on the final day. If nothing has happened all summer, then what chances of a deal being struck in the final 24 hours unless talks have been ongoing for a week or so?

At the start of the summer we bid for Gareth Barry but stood no chance of offering him the riches that City could. Not sure what the Vieira story was all about, as he's not even half the player he was 5 years ago. Slow, no bite and quite simply a shadow of his former self - he would have been an unmitigated disaster in Lilywhite. Not even his former club looked his way with a serious inclination to sign him (it was more a case of PR so that his Arsenal ties were not damaged with talk about joining Spurs). I still think Redknapp used this as some form of mis-direction, but if he did, nothing was forthcoming in the way of a CM signing.

Sissoko, we bid for. Apparently a while back. And found ourselves walking away slowly thanks to the price tag. Appiah was on trial for us months ago, and the ITK's (desperate towards the end of yesterday) suggested he was about to be signed ( the transfer deadline wouldn't even be relevant here anyway). Muntari was also a favourite of many but again this appeared to be nothing more than paper talk, much like Jenas to Inter was.

Sandro, the Internacional midfielder was heavily linked with a move to Spurs, until it was revealed that the real reason Levy was in Brazil was to complete a partnership deal with his club which will allow for their players to join us loan. The alleged £16M bid for him was probably nothing more than ye olde mis-direction. However, I wouldn't discount this completely, and he may yet sign for us (on loan or otherwise) in the next window. Just a hunch. And considering the deal we have with Internacional, it won't come as a surprise.

So with the window closed, we have a decent squad of players + 1. Would have preferred O'Hara to have remained with us, but if he plays for Pompey between now and Jan, then he'll come back a better player. We hope.

Disappointed that there is no brand spanking new CM? Was it realistic to expect a player of similar ilk to Palacios to sign, and if a player of such quality did he'd have to play alongside him rather than on the bench. Signing someone as cover when we have O'Hara (be it out on loan for the moment) was obviously not a priority.

Do we know enough about the likes of Sandro and Sissoko to expect them with any assured certainty to be able to play side-by-side Wilson? What would happen to Jenas and Huddlestone, the latter developing and improving with each game? A massive £15M midfield signing would actual cause a problem or two with squad harmony. Nice problem to have, but almost certain to bring the end of either JJ or Hudd come the new year.

I've not changed my tune on this. Still reckon we need another CM. But finding one for the right price and one that can spend time on the bench and still be good enough to play alongside Palacios…that's not as easy as I wish it could be.

If Levy does have something lined up with Internacional, then signing another midfielder now would not be an option even if we are crying out for one from the message boards. In fact, maybe Harry doesn't think we need one. No last minute activity yesterday would suggest so, as I can't find a single quote from him to suggest we were looking in desperation to plug this particular hole.

So that's that. Four months to go before the window re-opens. Who we sign then will depend on how well we are doing. If we are in a 5th spot within touching distance of 4th, then perhaps the money saved yesterday will be spent to lift us up tomorrow.

Fact is, we continue to sign players who improve the team balance/structure. No textbook superfluous signings. Times have officially changed at the Lane. And now the real work begins.

Hold onto your bagels.